Day 13 - Days of Gray

Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop,
Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

Proverbs 21:9 NKJV

The next few months after Grandma Rose went to Heaven was as dreary an existence as could be for a little girl.

Now that Grandma wasn’t here to watch me, Mom declared I was big enough to stay by myself.

I had strict orders to come straight home from school, lock myself into our apartment, eat a snack and do my homework. That is, if there was a snack to eat.

Under no circumstances was I ever to turn on the stove, answer the door or phone, bring someone home with me, nor go outside.

Mom worked long hours at the store and often was too tired to cook anything once she got home. If I whined about being hungry, a string of profanity would fill the air.

“You ungrateful little ***. I work my fingers to the bone to keep a roof over our heads. Now shut your whining and go to bed.”

I could feel myself changing. Where I once woke up every day, ready to go to school, happy and excited with my daily adventures, I now groaned when the alarm went off and covered my head with the pillow. Mom would have to yell and threaten me with bodily harm to get me out and going.

Once school was over, I came home and retreated to my room. No more going to Grandma Rose’s house for milk and cookies and conversation. No one to ask about my day. No one to care.

I honestly felt like the little Charlie Brown character, Pigpen, who had a cloud over him all the time. His cloud was dust, my cloud was grief.

My salvation was in reading books. I read voraciously every book I could get my hands on, and then dreamed of having a life like some of the characters in the stories I’d read.

The bright spot in the week was when mom’s friend Jamie would come over and play pinochle with her on Saturday night. There’d be pizza, Pepsi and laughter going on. I wouldn’t understand the jokes but just to hear laughter made me giggle, too.

Jamie was always real nice to me; and when she was around, mom would act like she liked me.

After I’d go to bed, I could hear them talking and laughing until midnight. It was a strange experience to see mom change into a smiling laughing human being. If only she’d act that way when it was just the two of us.

But then, something happened that made life a little bit happier – at least for me.

We are on Day 13 of my serial, Angel on Assignment: The Book of Morgan. Join us as we learn more and more about Morgan's early life.

If you have missed any of the previous posts, click on the title, "Angel on Assignment" in the upper right hand corner in my side bar. It will take you to a page where you can find all links as they go live.

What do YOU think? Do you think Morgan's mom understood the cloud of grief hanging over Morgan's head. Did she perhaps have her own cloud? 

This serial is not intended to be doctrine. Scripture does tell us angels come to warn, bring messages and sometimes watch over us. It also tells us we could possibly unknowingly entertain an angel. My serial is just me imagining how that might look in our present day and time.

Tomorrow's offering: Moving Day

This post was written as part of the Write 31 Days challenge. A whole group of writers will be writing for 31 days straight on a variety of topics. Click here to check it out.

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